Tag Archives: chocolate cake

I have been contemplating for the past few hours how to name this cake. To call it a raspberry and chocolate cheesecake is not quite right. To call it a raspberry cheesecake with chocolate cake is possibly technically correct, but hardly a snazzy name.

I was inspired whilst combing Pinterest for some inspiration to make my love a birthday cake that is not the standard chocolate number. With a tight schedule at home and at work this week, I concocted something that wasn’t too difficult to make.

The end result is a beautiful layer of Varlhona chocolate sponge cake as my base, followed by a no bake lemony cheesecake (I tweaked the recipe slightly from a cherry cheesecake by Nigella. This is topped by a raspberry gelatin. I added some fresh raspberry finish the look and dusted some icing sugar on it. Icing sugar is to me like magic dust. Just a sprinkle of it will bring a blah looking cake to a chi-chi looking dessert.

Recipe

Chocolate sponge cake – any of your fav sponge will do. I got mine from a good friend and it is her specialty so I have been sworn into secrecy not to share the recipe. Sorry about that.

Cheesecake – from Nigella
Tweaks made – cream cheese was upped to about 400g. Cream reduced to about 120ml. Lemon juice was upped to the juice of 1 whole lemon. I basically wanted a lemony cheesecake that was still a tad dense but not overly dense. I reduced sugar to taste as well.

Purée the raspberry with the icing sugar in a blender. I added around 120g of sugar as my raspberries were really tart.
Once done, sieve it to separate the seeds and pulp. Pour half the purée into a saucepan and warm it through.
Add the gelatin powder into the hot water and stir quickly before adding the warm purée. Once mixed well, add the balance of the purée.

Assembly
I made a 7″ round chocolate sponge cake, about 1″ thick. Once cooled, I placed it on a cake base.

Using a 7″ round springform ring, I fenced it round the cake. This will be my “biscuit” base for the cheesecake.

After making the cheesecake mix, I poured it on top of the choc cake, making a smooth even finish with a spatula or the back of a warm spoon if you like. All this while, keep the ring on. Leave it in the fridge to chill for at least 3h or overnight.

Once the cheesecake has formed up, prepare the gelatin and pour it on top of the cheesecake. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Once it is firm to the touch, it is time to remove the ring, something that I do with bated breath. It will be easier to use a thin plastic spatula to loosen the sides of the gelatin first before you actually open up the catch of the springform ring.

I topped my cake with fresh raspberry and dusting some icing sugar on it. Serve and enjoy!

This is really last minute. I only started making this cake around 4pm for a dinner gathering that is to begin at 7.30pm.

Earlier on in the afternoon, I was busy making sugar cookie dough with the girls. Whilst that was chilling in the fridge, hubby reminded me that I promised the dinner crowd a cake. OMG. I conveniently assumed it was no longer required since it is not potbless tonight.

So I turned to my trusted chocolate cake recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Original recipe can be found here Nigella’s Chocolate Cake

Good thing I had leftover ganache sitting in my fridge. It gives the finishing a slightly more polished look not to mention the magic that ganache does to the taste of your cake, almost immediately.

I tweaked the recipe by reducing the sugar to 180g, doubling the amount of cocoa powder to 80g, and using 3 medium eggs instead of 2 large ones. I also made my own buttermilk since I didn’t have any sour cream on hand.

I personally find that this cake pairs better with a ganache rather than chocolate frosting.

Ganache
For the ganache, do 1:1 ratio of cream and dark chocolate. In Singapore, single or double cream is hard to come by. I use whipping cream instead. Bring it to a scald, I.e on the brink of boiling but not quite bubbling yet. Pour it over chopped dark chocolates (I say at least 60% bitter) and let it sit for a while before stirring till the mixture is smooth and glossy.

If you wanna use it as a glaze, pour it over the cake before it sets. Otherwise you can wait for it to set further before spreading. Or whip it up after it has set and pipe flowers.